SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO--Buddhanomics: Live Small

It is hard for any of us to remember in this consumer driven world, but there is a wonderful freedom in living simple, living small.

The psychologist Abraham Maslow said that man really needs just a few things for peace and happiness ... a certain amount of food and a healthy environment, shelter and physical safety, the love and friendship of others. Beyond that, anything else might be seen as a luxury! What is more, we can be prisoners of "things" if we crave them to excess, hang our happiness on them, run after them, hoard them, cling to them. Thus, we should learn the freedom of a Zen monk, who finds the whole universe in a small, nearly empty room ... who has few possessions, and is not very much attached to even those.

It is hard to do these days for most of us in the west (me too), but there is great good in not running after or being tied to material things.

Today's Sit-A-Long video follows at this link. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended.

2 Comments

I'm so glad to see and hear your words about living small. Recently I started paring down my possessions and am amazed about how liberating it is. For example, I love books but my large library was just sitting there and being of no help to others, so I denoted scores of boxes to a couple local libraries. I'm slowly reducing my stuff and focusing on quality and relationships. Thanks for your teaching, Rod

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About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jundo published on November 8, 2010 11:41 PM.